A landing gear of an aircraft is typically moveable between a deployed position, where the landing gear extends downwardly from the aircraft and wheels of the landing gear can engage a runway, and a stored position where the landing gear is accommodated within appropriately shaped bays in the aircraft's fuselage or wing. So as not to interfere with the overall aerodynamic properties of the aircraft in flight, the bays are provided with doors which, when closed, conform to the shape of the aircraft body.
In a known landing gear door assembly, a pair of doors are provided. In the closed position of the doors the opening or aperture of the bay accommodating the landing gear is closed across by the doors with adjacent edges of the doors extending along a generally longitudinal axis spanning the aperture. Each door is hinged about a generally horizontal and longitudinal axis in the region of the edge of the door opposite to the edge adjoining the other door, allowing the doors to be rotated downwardly about the axes to open positions in which the doors extend approximately vertically downwardly from the aircraft body. It will be understood that references to the horizontal and vertical and the like, refer to a situation where the aircraft is at rest on a horizontal runway.
The size of the pair of doors depends upon the size of the aperture that the doors must close over and the aperture must in turn be sufficiently large to allow passage of the landing gear during deployment. As a result, if the landing gear is relatively large the doors must in turn be relatively large. Such large doors are, however, disadvantageous from an aerodynamic and noise viewpoint when they are open and extending downwardly and outwardly from the aircraft body.